Take a deep breath

3-9

That's the record. There's already lotto and firing Casey talk going on. Last night i was thinking about it all, and the reality is things aren't as bad as they seem. Literally, almost everything that could go wrong has. We lost our best player to injury for a bulk of the games, our (supposed) best scorer has been useless all year and there's been some serious lineup issues. You can put that on Casey, but you can also put that on BC for not having the right personnel.

Positives:
- Flying V is better out the gate than i thought he'd be and he's getting better every game
- Ross seems to finally be settling down and getting confidence. He's shown real potential at both ends of the floor
- Lowry is awesome
- Amir AND Ed have stepped their game up this year
- Calderon is playing the best ball of his career
- Demar is making all of us eat our words. I couldn't be happier. He's rebounding, shooting better from 3, has handles and i swear ive seen him make some beautiful assists. He's blowing me away.

I have a feeling BC is going to be active with trades this year. And when you think about it, a player here and a player there with the subtraction of a certain someone would literally make a massive change. The determination and grit has drastically changed on the team, you see Lowry and JV's influence really taking over the team. They're only going to get nastier.

The pick is top 3/15+ protected so if we suck really bad or luck out we get the 3rd pick, but knowing the raptors, we're gonna finish the.season with a ten game winning streak and OKC gets the fourth pick... Or if BC makes a trade and improves our team that we can sneak into the playoffs we keep oir picks as well

I am very excited about the possibility of replacing Bargnani with assets that are more conducive to a team game of slow it down/grind it out, rebound, defend, and attack the basket from inside out versus the current outside in.

3-9 is not hopeless and I didn't expect much better. When the season began BC and Co. said they hope to make the play-offs which means that they may not(make the play-offs) just as well. As far as I'm concerned losing is not the problem but losing without an effort is. At-least in 60-65% of the games the effort has been there and it is here that I would like to see improvement.

When Casey was hired, I was not a fan of the hire especially because Lawrence Frank who I preferred was overlooked. Casey however surprised me with a drastic defensive improvement. Now that the focus has shifted to offence, it doesn't seem like his expertise lies in this area. I think this needs to be addressed.

Nice post Ceez, and I'm in agreement on this one. The record is crappy and saying we are better than what are record reflects doesn't mean squat in the NBA, but there are some things to get excited about (JV, DD, Lowry, T.Ross showing signs, tradeable assets etc..).

WP Projects 43 wins now. The team is getting better. Yes, Bargnani is still an issue, but our 2 PGs are all-world, our backup PFs are great, our rookie center is already productive and actually DeMar is close to being above average!

Good post Ceez, I'm not a fan of Bargs, but it's only 12 games in let's relax on the guy. If we can trade him...awesome, if not then hopefully Casey figures out how to utilize him better. I'm also waiting for Lowry to be the voice in the locker room, I get the sense that he might already be (looking at the way Demar has been playing) but sometimes it takes some adjusting from the rest of the team. I'm loving Lowry and hope we're not rushing him back too soon.

Lastly, keep in mind all these games (with the exception of OKC) have been soooooo close, with a little more experience from both players and coaching we'll be able to close these suckers out as long as the refs let us.

Good post Ceez, I'm not a fan of Bargs, but it's only 12 games in let's relax on the guy. If we can trade him...awesome, if not then hopefully Casey figures out how to utilize him better. I'm also waiting for Lowry to be the voice in the locker room, I get the sense that he might already be (looking at the way Demar has been playing) but sometimes it takes some adjusting from the rest of the team. I'm loving Lowry and hope we're not rushing him back too soon.

Lastly, keep in mind all these games (with the exception of OKC) have been soooooo close, with a little more experience from both players and coaching we'll be able to close these suckers out as long as the refs let us.

Let's go Raps!

I feel like anyone who is taking the "Let's give Bargnani a little more time!" is intentionally trolling at this point. He's 27 now. He's played at power forward and he's played at centre. He's played for offensive coaches and defensive ones, some that have adjusted his playing time based on effort and others that have spoon fed him minutes regardless. He's been a starter and he's been a reserve. He's been the first, second and third options at various points during his tenure here. He's played with too many teammates to count; attacking point guards, pass-first point guards, shooters at different positions, defensive specialists alongside him in the frontcourt, etc....However we always end up at the same place with this guy.

He's not going to magically clue in at the quarter point of his seventh season or whatever. It's just not going to happen. The time for patience and the wait-and-see approach have long passed.

Totally agree. And this is the reason why i keep pushing that the refs are not giving us a break rather than "if they did this or that it wouldnt have come down to the refs controlling the game". It's because we can see that the effort (from some, not all) is there. I think the first 12 games we've seen big improvements from Demar and Ed, our expectations being satisfied by Lowry and our rooks are slowly getting into the thick of things.

IMO, the goal now is to move Bargnani and Calderon. Its only now i realize, what one of the biggest Bargnani haters said here before (i forgot his handle, but he got driven away from this forum, hehehe), this team will not win games, if this team will continue to compensate for what Bargnani cannot do. I've disputed this numerous times and in different ways, but it's fairly obvious now. And its the same with Calderon. Defense is the issue.

I remember standing alongside Tim W. and telling the RR forums that Bargnani had to go for the last couple of years. I would feel justified after the last couple of weeks if I wasn't so pissed off that he is still a Raptor.